Beyond Hogwarts cont; Chapter Twenty Two

-=Beyond Hogwarts, cont.; Chapter Twenty Two=-

Sirius was the first to arrive. Slenka hadn’t told him anything besides that Lily was urgently requesting his presence, so, puzzled and a bit worried-the expression on Slenka’s face looked as if someone had just hit her over the head with a crowbar-he Apparated into the entrance hall.
   “Lily!” he shouted, looking around. “Lily, it’s Sirius…James?”
   In the bedroom, Lily’s head snapped up, and, with a whirlwind of white cloth, she dashed to the landing.
   “Sirius!”
   His face lightened. “There you are. I was beginning to worry.”
   Involuntarily, Lily laughed. “Eh; this is just a momentary reprieve. You’ll be worrying yourself sick in about thirty seconds flat. Less, if you get up here fast.”
   The frown resurfaced, only this time it was much more apprehensive than it had been the first time. Taking the stairs three at a time, he was on the landing in no time. “Lily, what’s wrong?”
   “My descriptive skills at a time like this are limited,” Lily said dryly. “Let me show you.”
   Sirius’ expression suddenly changed from faintly worried to quite a bit of shock. “Lily-your dress…”
   A red stain about the size of a human head had soaked into the white cloth around her waist, where James had been lying in her lap.
   “Ah,” she nodded, her fingers starting to twitch. “Sirius, come with me.”
   Quickly, she led him to their bedroom door and stepped inside, stepping back across to James but almost stumbling. “I’ve sent for Dr. Nicholsen, but you were the first one Slenka brought.”
   Sirius froze momentarily in the doorway at the picture his friend made.
   “Lily, what-“
   “I don’t know,” she whispered. “Some-I think it was a Muggle, but…”    A brisk tutting of feet on the stairs interrupted them, and Sirius whirled around to face the middle-aged doctor in the same maroon robes he wore the first time he called, though they were on backwards. It looked like Slenka had rooted him forcefully out of bed, and he didn’t look especially pleased-but then again, he could only see Sirius, who was blocking most of the doorway.
   “I was summoned,” he said curtly, “by a very out-of-place house-elf refusing to tell me anything in particular. At one o’clock in the morning.”
   Deciding against the dramatic, Sirius jerked his thumb over his shoulder, heading outside to avoid the suddenly alert physician.
   “Lily, I’ll be back in a second. Stay.”
   He Disapparated into the flat he shared with Remus, and found his friend slipping on some clothes while a busy flash of house-elf pulled a pair of black robes from a closet.
   “Moony, old pal,” Sirius said pseudo-cheerfully, “good to see you’re up.”
   “I wasn’t,” Remus grumbled, putting on a green sock, “until James’ house-elf quite literally tore me out of bed. Woke up and was on the floor.”
   Sirius shook his head. “I would sympathize-or at least apologize, since I was the one that spilled the honey next to your bed, but we need you.”
   Pushing aside the fact that he had just slid two socks onto one foot, Remus sn atched up his wand from the living room table. “What happened?”
   “A picture is worth a thousand words,” Sirius said dryly, “and what we have is a moving picture. Come on. James’ house.”
   They Apparated onto the staircase in the entrance hall of the Potter house. Sirius, taking the remaining steps two at a time, was inside the bedroom in a matter of moments.
   “Lily?”
   She was sitting, slumped over, in an armchair, and Dr. Nicholsen nodded towards her.
   “I’ll give her a dreamless Sleeping Potion once I can leave Mr. Potter. Get me the house-elf.”
   A short clap was heard outside the room, and Slenka scurried inside, pattering over to the bed. Casting a quick glance over to James, Sirius walked over to the armchair, lifting Lily into his arms easily.
   “Remus-open the library door for me.”
   “The library?” Remus frowned.
   “Safest room in the house,” Sirius said shortly. “Besides, they’ve got decent couches in every room here.”
   “All right. I’ll snag some blankets from a closet, then.”
   Lily was half-unconscious, tired beyond comprehension, and, understandably, madly frightened about her husband, but everything from that evening combined simply made her fall into a half-slumber once Sirius set her down on the library sofa.
   Sirius exhaled loudly; it seemed as if he had been holding his breath ever since he had seen the stain on Lily’s dress, one that was drying rapidly and was now a rust-coloured mark. The door closed quietly, and he looked up; Remus had brought a couple of blankets inside.
   “Remus, stay with her. I’ve got to get to the Ministry; inform them what happened.”
   “Why the Ministry?” Remus frowned. “Why go there? There’s a fireplace across from you.”
   “Yeah, I know. I just…well, this might be worse than we think.”
   Remus’ head snapped up. “Voldemort?”
   “Not so loudly!” Sirius hissed. “Yes, maybe. I don’t know. I know nothing. Just watch Lily, all right?”
   “All right,” he muttered, “just don’t get yourself killed.”
   Sirius grinned. “Don’t worry. It’s Apparating; what could happen?”
   “Well,” Remus said sensibly, “you could splinch yourself right through your brain or heart, you could Apparate into the path of a curse, you could miscalculate and land-“
   “I,” Sirius announced, “do not like common sense. Moony, hush.”
   He Disapparated with a flick of his cloak, and Lily chose that moment to open her eyes.
   “James?” she garbled wearily.
   “Ssh,” Remus said quietly, rearranging the pillows underneath her head. “He’s all right. We’ve got the doctor with him-”
   A sudden, violent coughing attack interrupted him; Lily had managed to inhale something the wrong way, and all Remus could do was hold her upright till the assault had subsided and she collapsed onto the pillows, worn out and drained.
   “Ssh,” Remus repeated, pulling her hair, which had loosened itself from its elaborate construction and was falling everywhere, away from her face. Taking the crystal lily out of the few braids that were left, he set it on a side table. “Sleep. Don’t worry about anything; not now…”
   Surprisingly, she obeyed, letting her head fall onto his arm and effectually pinning Remus in an uncomfortable half-kneeling position next to the sofa. Resignedly, he lowered himself into a sitting pose, trying not to twist his arm out of place.
   There was an Emergency Accidental Magic Squad that had around-the-clock shifts, and that was where Sirius was headed. Of course, intended gunshots weren’t quite what most people would call accidental magic, but the department had connections to the rest of the Ministry and access to its files, records, and employees.
   When Sirius pushed open the door of the Emergency Accidental Magic Squad, a half-asleep, shortsighted secretary was twiddling her quill around the inkpot, trying not to let the tip of the quill touch the rim. When she registered the visitor, however, the quill flew into the ink and she whisked her glasses back on.
   “May I help you?”
   “Get me someone from the Regulation Code Enforcing Department-and from Muggle Law. Now.”
   The secretary took a good look at the handsome, albeit disheveled twenty-year-old, smiled, and removed her glasses coquettishly. “Absolutely. I’ll need your address, though…”
   Sirius frowned. “What for?”
   “Oh…just in case you need help-er, later on…always happy to oblige, you know…”
   Sirius gritted his teeth at the blatant absence of subtlety. Normally, he wouldn’t have minded the flirting and the promiscuous eye-batting, but this wasn’t what most would call a good time, not when one of his friends was lying on a bed with three points of lead in his body and his wife draped on a sofa, close to blacking out.
   “Lady, a Muggle kid picked up a wand and managed to hand me some extraordinarily fish-belly-white boils in a very suspicious part of the body. Get me the Muggle Law Enforcement Department.”
   The secretary drew back in her chair, disgusted, and pulled two small cords hanging down from the wall. Immediately, two large, falcon-like owls flew into the room from an outlet in the ceiling. Wrinkling her nose, the secretary clipped a small sheet of parchment with a bit of scribble Sirius took to be a name on each owl’s leg, then sent them back up into the ceiling.
   “Your-er-aids will be here in a moment. Leave the address of the-ah-accident’s site with me, and I will direct them there,” she said airily, eyeing him as if he was some close relation to Bill Weasley’s slug mash.
   “Hedera Castellum,” Sirius snapped. “Be bloody sure you direct them there.”
   With an additional scowl at her expression, Sirius Disapparated back to the mansion, where he immediately was belted in the stomach by Slenka’s head.
   “Merlin’s beard, watch where you’re going!” he grumbled, ignoring the fact that Slenka couldn’t have known he was going to appear right in front of her. She backed off, profuse in apologies, while Sirius took the stairs to the bedroom three at a time and occasionally four.
   Easing the door open quietly, he stepped inside. “Dr. Nicholsen?”
   The addressed looked up from his patient. “Yes, sir?”
   Sirius closed the door, moving forward. “Is he going to be all right?”
   Removing his glasses, Dr. Nicholsen stared at Sirius piercingly. “I think so. It mostly depends on the loss of blood and whether I can detach the remaining bullet.” He pointed towards a platter with two pieces of lead covered with blood plunked onto it. “Those are the other two.”
   “Ah,” Sirius said intelligently, feeling a bit queasy. “Is there anything I can do?”
   The doctor replaced his glasses. “Your house-elf is taking care of that. You may, however, search my bag for a green bottle and give three drops of the contents to the lady.”
   Sirius nodded. “Right. Thanks…--hey, what is it?”
   “A very strong potion for dreamless sleep. And I need complete silence for my work.”
   Picking up the brown bag, Sirius started rooting through a formerly neat selection of differently coloured vials and bottles, finally coming up with a container that looked like a miniature milk bottle, albeit green. Resisting the urge to slip a liquid labeled Caution! Do not use. Illegal except when used in certain certified circumstances into his sleeve, Sirius picked up the green vial and slipped out of the room.
   Armed with the potion and a glass of the first thing he could find in the kitchen (warm milk), he pushed open the door to the library, immediately stifling a snicker. Remus was sitting with his back pressed against the sofa, his left arm twisted behind his body by Lily’s head, and one of his feet was sprawled on the carpet; the other was tucked underneath his body.
   “Don’t say a word,” Remus said good-humouredly. “I didn’t want to wake her up.”
   “Could have saved yourself the trouble,” Sirius commented, holding up the phial. “She’s got to drink this.”
   “What is that?” Remus queried, looking distastefully at the glass Sirius was holding. “Milk?”
   “Warm milk, yes,” Sirius said defensively. “It’s good for your bones.”
   “Milk,” Remus grimaced. “I don’t know why I find it disgusting, but I think it’s because of the part of the cow that it comes from. Very near to its other private areas. Eh, well. What’s it for?”
   “You. It’s a special sort of werewolf cub drink that’ll give them long, sharp, manicured claws with toe rings.”
   Remus slid a hand out from underneath Lily’s head. “My werewolf cub claws are strongly tempted to give you several red marks across your face,” he grinned. “It’s to wash the potion down, I assume?”
   “Yes. It’s an extremely disgusting concoction.”
   “Oh?” Remus raised his eyebrows. “How do you know?”
   “Well, it smells nasty. Like bubotuber pus mixed with motor oil.”
   “And you’re willing to give her that?”
   “Well, if nothing else, the fumes’ll knock her out,” Sirius grinned. “Wake Lily up for me, will you?”
   Gently, Remus obeyed, shaking her shoulder lightly and then lifting her to a sitting position. Groggily, Lily shook her head.
   “Wha…spug…--uukh?” she asked sleepily, vaguely trying to spit some of her hair out of her mouth.
   “You know, you need to cut that jump-rope once in a while,” Remus smiled. “We’ve brought you something to drink.”
   “Drink.” Lily’s sleep- (and partly shock-) dulled senses processed the word slowly. Drink. Pumpkin juice, she thought, lemonade…dangerous, deadly potions…mud…clay muck…wine-
   She jerked to attention. “Drink!”
   “Ye-es…” Sirius said slowly; “drink. Milk, if you want to be particular…”
   “No,” Lily said clearly, all of her drowsiness gone and a worried look returning to her face. “James. Where-how is he?”
   Remus looked down at his hands-he had heard nothing but that James had been shot-, but Sirius kept his gaze fixed on her eyes, unblinking. “The doctor said there’s a good chance of him being all right.”
   Lily dropped her head again, curling her chest against her legs and wrapping her arms around her knees, the panicky feeling somewhat subsiding.
   “You’re sure?” she whispered, burying her nails into the skirt of her dress.
   “Positive.” Gallantly shoving Remus aside, Sirius sat down next to her on the couch, pulling Lily into a hug. Furrowing her face into his shoulder, she returned it, trying to block out everything behind her eyes by squashing them into her eyelids.
   Sirius let her sit that way for a minute, while he absently played with the hair hanging down her back, gazing at the wall of books on the other side of the room. And, (typically, he thought) the first thing that caught his eye was a shelf full of famous romance novels.
   “Lily,” he said quickly, pulling away, “we’ve got something for you-Remus, where’s the potion?”
   Sirius let Lily lean back into the mass of pillows Remus had just plumped up, and took the potion and the glass of milk from his friend. Uncorking the bottle, he nodded at Lily.
   “Open your mouth and lean your head back. And don’t spit it out.”
   Apprehensively uncomfortable, Lily obeyed, and she wished she hadn’t when the feeling of tepid, dirty pond water hit her throat.
   “Sirius, what is this?”
   Apologetically, he recorked the vial and handed her the milk. “From a personal viewpoint, liquid manure; from a professional standpoint, it’s a dreamless sleep potion.”
   “Oh,” Lily frowned, yawning. With a quick gesture, she sn atched the milk from his grasp and downed half the glass at once. “I think your personal viewpoint is the most correct.”
   Remus shook his head, standing up. “I’ll go check on-er, upstairs.” He turned to go, but his hand had hardly touched the doorknob when it rattled unnervingly shakily and the door burst open, revealing a round, disheveled, worried, and apprehensive Peter.
   “Pete!” Sirius called from the couch. “You got the message?”
   “Yeah,” Peter whispered, looking at Lily. “What’s the matter with her?”
   “Peter,” Remus said quietly, “before you ask that, I’d better show you something.”
   “The doctor’s got a large liquid metal stick up his bum about silence in the sickroom while he’s working,” Sirius warned. “You might want to be careful.”
   Peter snorted and Remus tried very hard not to as both of them left the library. Faintly, Sirius and Lily heard Peter asking: “Sickroom? What sickroom? What’s wrong with James? Why doctor?”
   “Great,” Lily moaned, “another person that’s going to be worried sick.” She yawned again, dropping her head to the side. “Do you know, I’m not all that worried anymore,” she said conversationally.
   “Yeah, I know.” Sirius pointed to the sleeping potion. “You’re almost too doped up to talk.” He set the empty glass of milk on the table next to the green bottle and drew a bookmark made from ribbon out of the nearest book at hand. Lifting her head, he tied it around her hair, an attempt to keep it away from her face. “Just sleep now. It’ll be better in the morning.”
   “Buh,” Lily muttered. “Blighd, Si-us.”
   “Goodnight to you, too,” he whispered as she fell asleep, the lines on her face relaxing into neutral, peaceful glimmers.
   The next time Lily opened her eyes, she felt as though she had been systematically placed underneath a falling boulder and her eyes had been stuck to her eyelids. Drowsily lifting her hand, she wiped away a thin crust of sand from the corners of her eyes.
   Sitting up, Lily opened her eyes, and the first thing they landed on was Sirius, sitting on the floor, his head pillowed in his arms, which were on the couch, folded, next to her legs.
   He stayed here all night. she thought incredulously-and then the memory of all of last night came flooding back. Drawing in her breath sharply, she tried to extricate herself from the blankets.
   “James,” she whispered. “No. No. Please-please-“
   Her leg accidentally knocked against Sirius’ head, and he twitched violently before jerking awake.
   “Sirius,” Lily said quietly, eyes wide, “is he all right?”
   He sat up quickly, all trace of sleepiness gone, and held up a hand. “Lily, listen-“
   “Is he all right?” she cried hoarsely, shaking him by the shoulders. “Sirius, tell me!”
   Deftly, he detached her grasp from his shoulders and pulled both of her wrists into one hand, setting the other on her shoulder. “Lily, listen to me.”
   Breathing hard, in sn atches, Lily obeyed, a fury in her brain starting to slide ice-cold numbness down to the tips of her fingers and her legs.
   “Lily, we think he’ll be all right. It’s-“
   “Oh!” she breathed, slumping forwards onto his shoulder in relief. “Oh! thank you!”
   Sirius shook his head regretfully. “You’re not allowed to see him, though. The doctor won’t let any of us see him-he wants him sent off to St. Mungo’s in the morning.”
   “St. Mungo’s?” She drew back, terrified anew. “You just-“
   “I know,” he said gently. “Yes, I know. Dr. Nicholsen said we’d have to send him somewhere where he could be watched daily, where they know what to do if he has a relapse.” Lifting a hand, he brushed a drop of water from her eyelashes. “Lily, it’s for the best.”
   Dismantled, she drew back, locking her arms around her knees and burying her face in the folds of the white dress, the only reminder of the blissful time that had enveloped their world only eight short hours ago, but which seemed like aeons behind them.
   “When are they taking him?” Her voice was muffled inside the skirt, but he understood.
   “As soon as Dr. Nicholsen finishes re-bandaging him.”
   A soft knocking on the door announced Peter’s entrance; he slid in quietly.
   “’Morning, Lily,” he whispered. “Sirius, Slenka wants to know if you two want something to eat.”
   “Yes,” Sirius said decisively. “Definitely. Bring up a tray filled with everything that elf can pull up.”
   “Right,” Peter nodded. He paused at the door and nodded towards Lily. “Is she all right?”
   Sirius draped an arm around her. “She will be,” he whispered.
   “Yeah,” Peter muttered as soon as he was out of the room. “yeah. Unless.”
   Dr. Nicholsen didn’t know Lily very well, but he did know that when she had broken her rib, James had hardly budged from her bedside. And the one thing he had to avoid was any sort of excitement for his patient, so he had blocked James off from her. He didn’t much like doing it, but it had to be done, he thought grimly as he threw the used bandages into the wastebasket, stood up, yawned, and downed a glass of leftover red wine.
   After washing his hands, Remus re-entered the room.
   “Sir, I’ve informed the St. Mungo’s staff, and they should be here any moment.”
   “Good,” the doctor said smoothly. “Wait for them downstairs and bring them up here when they come.”
   “Yes, sir,” Remus said, retreating. He had caught a glimpse of James-shirt off, strips of bandages five inches wide coiled around about a foot of his chest, the now bent glasses removed and placed on the nightstand, his hair even more rumpled than usual, and a sickening pallor on his cheeks-and he wished he hadn’t; Lily would have to know, and telling her wouldn’t be pleasant.
   By the time three of the hospital’s staff arrived, Sirius was almost pushing biscuits down Lily’s throat; she was eating listlessly, and every time she swallowed something that tasted like ground candle wax and sand she had shaken her head. “That’s enough; I can’t eat. I’m not hungry, Sirius.”
   “I know you can’t, but you’ve got to,” was the inoxerable answer, and slowly, her brain even started feeling clogged.
   However, that feeling was driven away as soon as clumping feet and low voices drifted through the partly closed library door. Suddenly wide awake, Lily let her fork fall into the hot chocolate, trying to move the tray.
   “Hold it!” Sirius set the tray on the floor, grasping her around the waist. “Where are you going?”
   “They’re bringing him downstairs,” she said tightly. “I have to go.”
   “Whoa!” Lily had managed to set her feet on the floor, and Sirius threw the other arm around the front her shoulders to stop her. “Lily, remember what I told you? You can’t see him; not now.”
   “If it were me lying there,” Lily snapped, “would James be content to just sit on a couch, eating breakfast? Let me go, Sirius.”
   With a deft movement he couldn’t have foreseen, she slipped out from his clutch and pressed towards the door. Her hand had just turned the knob when Sirius caught her back again, lifting her forcibly and carrying her back to the sofa.
   “Lily, I told you-“
   “Let me go!” she hissed, and for a split second, her eyes flashed a disconcerting silver.
   “No.” Sirius pinned her deftly with both hands clasped around her forearms. “No. Lily, I hadn’t intended to tell you this, but the last bullet hit a good two centimeters above his lung. It broke in half when Dr. Nicholsen tried to remove it, and if James wakes up and there’s any sort of excitement whatsoever, his lungs are going to start expanding more than they already do. We’ve got to keep his breathing quiet, otherwise that piece of lead is going to puncture his lung. The doctor can’t remove it; he’s tried all night. He can’t reach it without surgery.” Eyes hard with determination, he let go of Lily’s arms. “Now do you understand? We can’t afford the slightest chance of his waking up.”
   Limply, Lily fell back onto the heap of pillows, crying silently, her face turned towards the back of the sofa, all resistance gone.
   Sighing, Sirius brushed her hair away from her face. “I know. Lily, it’s not easy for us, either.”
   She closed her eyes, clutching her hands together against her chest, trying to stop shaking, but, sitting next to her, Sirius could feel her body shuddering.
   He kept her in the library until Remus poked his head inside, informing them that the St. Mungo’s staff and Dr. Nicholsen had left, and then he handed her over to Slenka, with the orders to get Lily dressed. Several people from the Ministry were expected in about a half hour to be informed of the incident, and they were certainly going to question Lily. The two the Sirius had asked for during the night had asked a few questions, then left, all while Lily was sleeping; they had intended to come back the next day so that she could tell them anything that might be useful. The neighborhood had been scoured for strangers, of course, but no one suspicious had been found.
   When Lily stepped into the bedroom, she heard the sound of running water in the bathtub stop abruptly. Slenka led her inside the bathroom, seated her on a low stool, and started unlacing the corset. Someone had thoughtfully loosened the laces while she was sleeping so that she could breathe normally, but they were still somewhat restricting.
   Lily’s head was spinning. She felt drained, tired, exhausted, congested, and weak all at once; her mind was thickened and most of her responses were slow. Walking to the bathtub felt like plunging into bread dough rising in the oven; thick, restricting, and sponge-like. Slipping into a sort of oblivion, she vaguely felt Slenka’s wiry fingers washing tangles, sweat, tears, and some blood out of her hair.
   The first dress that the elf pulled from the closet met no opposition. Lily was unusually quiet; she kept staring at the floor where James had fallen and then over at the bed. It was only when Slenka started poking pins into her head that her brain cleared a little; enough to drink the wine Remus had prescribed as medicine.
   Downstairs, Sirius, Peter, and Remus had just welcomed the three Ministry officials, and they were standing in the entrance hall, shedding cloaks and hoods. One was an elderly man, thin, with dark grey hair and olive-green Ministry robes; the badge on them sported the Department of Muggle Law Enforcement’s crest. The other was a familiar sight to the friends: redhaired Arthur Weasley, from the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department. He had been summoned because it was anything but natural for a lump of lead to break in the middle while being pulled with something akin to tweezers, and that it wasn’t ruled out for the attacker to be a wizard masquerading as a Muggle. And the last was from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement: a dark brown-haired man in his mid-thirties, wearing immaculately tailored blue robes, a meticulously trimmed moustache, and a superior look that made several people want to connect his teeth with the back of his skull.
   “Where’s the lady?” the older man asked, handing a black cloak to Sirius. “Is she still sleeping?”
   “No; she’s getting dressed,” Remus clarified. “She should be down in a minute-“
   “There she is” Sirius interrupted, motioning towards the staircase. “She’s still not well, though.”
   She wasn’t at all well, something that could be seen easily, but that meant anything but that she looked hideous. A pale blue summer dress hung, as did most of her clothing, down to the floor, though this one had no train. The bodice was simple enough; there were no sleeves, only two inch-wide straps over each shoulder, and a long scarf, fastened in the front where each strap began and with the ends hanging over her back to her knees, covered up the high neckline. A light cerulean veil covered the long hair that was hanging down her back, only slightly shorter than the ends of the scarf. Her face was paler than usual, and her hands kept clutching the folds in the skirt.
   As she stepped onto the floor of the entrance hall, Sirius took her arm, trying to ignore the dropping temperature in her fingers.
   “Lily, this is Mr. Crouch,” Sirius introduced, nodding to the man in the blue robes. “Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.”
   “How do you do,” Mr. Crouch said shortly, but with a beam. “You have a beautiful home, miss.”
   Lily smiled finely and shook his hand, unconsciously dropping the beginning of a curtsy.
   “You already know Arthur, and this is Mr. Perkridge, of Muggle Law.”
   The elderly man shook her hand genteely, then turned to Sirius.
   “Mr. Black, is there anywhere we can sit to talk more comfortably?”
   “Certainly,” Lily said clearly. “Remus, is the large sitting room open?”
   He nodded, gesturing towards the door. “Please come in; sit down.”
   Slenka had thoughtfully provided a tray of drinks and a platter of small sandwiches, and they were greatly appreciated by all but Lily and Sirius, who felt less than hungry, mostly because they had eaten a large breakfast only an hour earlier.
   “Mrs. Potter,” Mr. Crouch said, leaning back in the armchair with a glass of lemonade, “we have a conjecture of what happened last night, but we need to know what actually happened. Can you remember anything at all?”
   Lily frowned, closing her eyes. “I’ll try.”
   “Good,” Mr. Perkridge said gently. “Just take your time.”
   “It was our anniversary,” Lily murmured, “and we had had a party with several of our friends. It was over around-twelve, I think, and we walked back to our room…and I heard something. James thought it was the cat-but she was lying on the bed, and James walked over to where we thought the noise was coming from…” She let her face fall into her hands, trying to think. “And then-then he jumped out from behind the bed. He was a Muggle, I think…he was wearing a black shirt and black pants. He had on a hood, but I think his hair was light. I..I don’t remember any dark eyebrows.” She frowned slightly, trying to reconstruct the scene.
   “He pulled a gun out and shot-twice. James-he-he fell backwards…I remember looking at the man’s eyes…and then he pulled a bag out from underneath the bed…and I can recall seeing him leap out onto the balcony and over the railing.” Breathing hard, she looked up. “Then…well, I called Slenka in, and she summoned Sirius-and Remus, and the doctor. I don’t remember seeing Peter here until this morning.”